Green’s Dictionary of Slang

(a) to steal (from).

c.1698		B.E. Dict. Canting Crew n.p.: I Made this Knife at a heat, c. I Stole it cleverly.
1725		New Canting Dict. [as cit. c.1698].
1732		Proc. Old Bailey 23 Feb. 92/1: We went to her to sell the Parson’s Scarf. She asked us when we made it.
1747		Life and Character of Moll King 12: I heard she made a Fam To-night, a Rum one, with Dainty Dasies.
a.1790		H.T. Potter New Dict. Cant (1795).
1809		G. Andrewes Dict. Sl. and Cant.
1835		G. Kent Modern Flash Dict.
1848		Flash Dict. in Sinks of London Laid Open.
1859, 1860		Hotten Dict. of Modern Sl. etc.
1865		Leaves from Diary of Celebrated Burglar 6/2: Of course, when they got to the station-house, every ‘poke’ that was ‘made’ that day as out to their account.
1877		J. Greenwood Dick Temple I 286: Ten or twelve pounds per week! There are hundreds of London thieves [...] who do not ‘make’ twice as many shillings.
1885		Bulletin (Sydney) 8 Aug. 11/4: Having taken the precaution to lock the door in order to avoid interruption, she was about to tell his reverence a lot of things – possibly, among others, how many silk dresses she had ‘made’ out of the till during the last quarter – when her husband came thundering at the door.
1906		A.H. Lewis Confessions of a Detective 202: Then I made a swell in a boozing ken.
1926		J. Black You Can’t Win (2000) 14: At twenty-five I was an expert house burglar, a nighttime prowler, carefully choosing only the best home [...] I ‘made’ them in the small hours of the night, always under arms.
1936		D. Maurer ‘Argot of the Und. Narcotic Addict’ Pt 1 in AS XI:2 123/2: To make. […] 3. For someone to rob an addict of his supply of dope.
1953		‘John Eagle’ Hoodlums (2021) 57: Martin made store after store [...] Kirk could see the Cadillac materialize out of the easy loose money.
1953		W. Brown Monkey On My Back (1954) 45: He met another cat he knew and they had done some making (stealing from parked cars).
1967		P. Thomas Down These Mean Streets (1970) 75: Once inside the store we decided we may as well make the whole scene—cigarettes, candy, the cash register, everything.
1977		B. Jackson Killing Time 223: It was a rehash of a clinic I had made back in the fifties.
1989		(con. 1940s) Courtwright & Des Jarlais Addicts Who Survived 89: That’s when a lot of drugstore and hospital burglaries started coming into play. I made croakers, too. I even stole a few scrips.

(b) to promote, to make successful, usu. as made.

1834		Marryat Peter Simple (1911) 337: I expect that [...] Mr. O’Brien is made, and commands this craft.
1906		A.H. Lewis Confessions of a Detective 67: There aren’t so many retired Captains of Detectives, d’ye see, and they ‘made me’.
1929		J. Lait Broadway Melody 8: That is precisely how songs are ‘made’.
1939		L.M. Limpus Honest Cop 53: All the cops were to be probationary patrolmen, the Sergeants, brand new Sergeants who had just been sworn in that day—even the Lieutenants were newly made.
1952		E. Reid Mafia 49: [He] was a confidant of big wheels in the New York political set-up and was credited with being able to ‘make’ federal judges and city magistrates.
1973		R. Daley Target Blue 365: Captain Clark got promoted (‘made’ in Police Department jargon) because he was recommended by the First Deputy.

(c) (US, also make on) to seduce, to have sexual intercourse with.

1604		Dekker Honest Whore Pt 1 I viii: It was more easie for him in one night to make fifty queanes, then to make one of them honest againe in fifty yeares.
[c.1632		R. Brome A Novella IV ii: Shee was his own Church-sure before I left ’em, / And he has made her Cock-sure, sir by this time, / Or else he is a Bungler].
1860		N.E. Police Gaz. (Boston, MA) 18 Aug. 6/3: Fatty M—an, what were you you doing with that girl [...] in the alley? Anything to be made, eh, Fatty?
1905		H. Green Actors’ Boarding House (1906) 194: He had hopes of making the lady.
1914		T.A. Dorgan Indoor Sports 7 Mar. [synd. cartoon] He’s tryin to make the broad and they won’t introduce him.
1923		H.C. Witwer Fighting Blood 28: I got to be made a fool of like this in front of a girl I’m crazy about and a guy that’s trying to make her!
1930		W.R. Burnett Iron Man 96: She even tried to make me, and I’m no beauty as you can see.
1940		R. Chandler Farewell, My Lovely (1949) 219: Them rich dames are easier to make than paper dolls.
1957		Kerouac On The Road (1972) 71: I tried everything in the books to make a girl.
1961		T. Taylor Baron’s Court All Change (2011) 26: I could never see the point of it, unless you were trying to make a girl.
1963		‘Geoffrey Tolhurst’ Flat 4 King’s Cross (1966) 123: I got the reputation for being very exclusive, and I heard that men even laid bets as to whether they could ‘make’ me; or not.
1968		A. Salkey Late Emancipation of Jerry Stover (1982) 19: He liked her and had half-heartedly tried to make her at the last Christmas party.
1975		D. Goines Inner City Hoodlum 80: Especially when there was a new bitch to be made.
1986		R. Campbell In La-La Land We Trust (1999) 5: She was self-made, she often said, For sure, no man had ever made her.
1999		J. Ridley Love Is a Racket 246: Why would I want to try to make you?
2001		(con. 1990s) in J. Miller One of the Guys 156: ‘She got a nice little face and body [...] He was trying to make on her’.
2002		Sandmann ‘Burning Down the House’ Planet Sex Stories 🌐 We both laughed, and from that time on I knew I was gonna make my first chick. It was only a matter of time.

(d) (US) to succeed in getting something; esp. in context of drugs, usu. constr. with for, e.g. make a croaker for a reader, to persuade a doctor to write a prescription for narcotics; make for a stash, to steal the drugs another addict has hidden so as to use them oneself.

1910		T.A. Dorgan in Zwilling TAD Lex. (1993) 21: She and I were sitting there making love see — and I’m just goin to make her for the coin.
1929		A.J. Barr Let Tomorrow Come 153: An’ ’is mouthpiece makes ’im for the iron and lays ’im flat.
1931		W.R. Burnett Silver Eagle 252: ‘If you hadn’t tried to make me for dough, you’d never got yourself in this mess’.
1936		D. Maurer ‘Argot of the Und. Narcotic Addict’ Pt 1 in AS XI:2 124/1: make. [...] 5. To obtain drugs from a physician [...] To make a croaker for a reader. To persuade a physician, by one means or another, to write a prescription for narcotics.
1953		‘William Lee’ Junkie (1966) 22: Roy finally [...] made the doctor for a ten-grain script.
1969		Cressey & Ward Delinquency, Crime, and Social Process 824: A pill freak [...] is more likely to divert his conning ability to ‘making a croaker’ (physician) by simulating bodily illnesses, depression, or severe headaches.
1978		H. Selby Jr Requiem for a Dream (1987) 39: Youre makin a croaker for speed.
1980		(con. 1940s–60s) H. Huncke ‘Ed Leary’ in Eve. Sun Turned Crimson (1998) 128: He knew a couple of people who were keeping up habits making croakers.
1990		(con. 1930s–60s) H. Huncke Guilty of Everything (1998) 257: Bill, I think that drugstore could be made.

(e) (US Und.) in weaker form of sense 1d above, to entice the potential victim of a confidence trick.

1928

J. Callahan Man’s Grim Justice 38: I’ve got an old John nibbling [...] Stall away for five minutes until I make him.

(f) to attain a goal, e.g. make the team, make a club.

1924		P. Marks Plastic Age 11: If you’re a runner you ought to make a fraternity easy.
1938		R. Chandler ‘The King in Yellow’ in Spanish Blood (1946) 77: Yours was the only bedroom he couldn’t make?
1952		K. Amis letter 27 Feb. in Leader (2000) 271: Bruce and I were very thick at one time; dropped his old friends, of course, when he made Covent Garden.
2000		G. Pelecanos Shame the Devil 22: You ain’t gonna make that yellow, partner.

(g) (US) to consume drugs or drink.

1958		G. Lea Somewhere There’s Music 18: Baby and I made two of those pills.
1961		Ross Russell Sound 11: I can’t make lush at all, baby.
1961		L. Block Diet of Treacle (2008) 101: ‘I don’t like . . . pot.’ [...] ‘How do you know? You never made it, baby.’.

(h) (US) to make a drug purchase.

1969		R.R. Lingeman Drugs from A to Z (1970) 155: make [...] (2) to purchase drugs from a peddler, as in ‘I tried to make him for some junk’.
1981		D.E. Miller Bk of Jargon 342: make: To purchase (drugs). (‘I just made some downs.’).

(a) (US) to go to, to arrive at, to attend, to pay a visit.

1855		W.G. Simms Forayers 467: He will be for keeping this side, where he can soonest make Orangeburg.
1862		T. Winthrop John Brent 52: We have no time to lose, if we expect to make Missouri before winter.
1869		Man about Town 27 Nov. 92/2: [A]fter losing my way [in the fog] in trying to ‘make’ the nearest lamp-post [...] I shut up my house’s ears and went to bed.
1873		W.H. Thomas A Slaver’s Adventures 24: The next day we made the island, and passed FIoreo Castle without the customary challenge.
1901		‘Hugh McHugh’ Down the Line 30: Whenever he makes a town where there’s a pool room his expense account gets fat and beefy.
1923		D. Hammett ‘The Second-Story Angel’ Nightmare Town (2001) 217: I was passin’ and spotted somebody makin’ your fire escape.
1935		D. Lamson We Who Are About to Die 197: This is the first time in twenty years that I ever made a big joint.
1942		N. Algren Never Come Morning (1988) 83: He knew Casey had made the car because he’d heard him hit the running board as Finger wheeled it out of the alley.
1956		N. Algren Walk on the Wild Side 257: We went up on deck to watch the boat make the pier.
1965		C. Brown Manchild in the Promised Land (1969) 178: You could sell a hundred dollars worth of cocaine if you made all the bars.
1979		E. Torres After Hours 38: I made the casino in the evenin’.
1984		J. Ellroy Because the Night 196: ‘There’s a party in the Valley at eleven-thirty. and [. . .] I’d like to make it’.
1990		S. Morgan Homeboy 370: Let’s make the flick.
1995		J. Cameron Vinnie Got Blown Away 19: Moved off through the other motors and made the street, Beaconsfield Road.
2001		(con. 1964–8) J. Ellroy Cold Six Thousand 15: She crossed Houston. Cars swerved by her. She made Dealey Plaza.

(b) (Aus.) to leave.

1905

Bulletin (Sydney) 14 Sept. 19/2: It took twenty minutes and a bottle of brandy before he knew whether he was an Irishman or a Cherokee, and on the first glimmer of returning life, we lifted our blueys and ’made.’ Mackenzie, the nigger, left earlier.

(c) spec. use of sense 3a above, to catch, e.g. make a plane, make a train.

1910		Boston Transcript Aug. n.p.: He wanted to be awaked at 11.30 sharp, as he had to make a train.
1916		H.L. Wilson Somewhere in Red Gap 24: I hurried home to get a bite to eat and dress and make the party.
1924		‘Digit’ Confessions of a Twentieth Century Hobo 70: She was a Limited passenger which would stop for a few minutes to take in oil and water. We decided to make her.
1933		(ref. to 1890–1910) L.G.D. Acland Early Canterbury Runs (1951) 386: Make [...] (of men) arrive at, get to; e.g., m. the station.
1948		Dan Burley ‘Back Door Stuff’ 30 Oct. [synd. col.] [Y]ou and me [...] will still be making the subways and buses to cop a slave.
1970		D. Jenkins Saturday’s America 68: Complaining about the traffic [...] has always been one of Dallas's favorite pastimes. It is not so amusing when one wants to make a kickoff.
1998		(con. 1986) G. Pelecanos Sweet Forever 38: Maybe you guys can still make the show.

(a) to recognise (in a non-judicial context).

1896		F. Hutcheson Barkeep Stories 6: It was too late. The man [...] had ‘made’ him.
1911		T.A. Dorgan ‘Silk Hat Harry’s Divorce Suit’ in Des Moines Register (IO) 29 Oct. 43: Did you make the new hanging bag?
1961		L. Block Diet of Treacle (2008) 111: ‘You can call me Shank.’ ‘I never made that handle.’.
2016		D. Whish-Wilson Old Scores [ebook] At some point during the day Mostel had made the tail.
2020		S.A. Crosby Blacktop Wasteland 181: ‘We were going to pinch you when you left, but you made us’.

(b) to witness or observe, to recognize, to identify a suspect, or for a suspect to recognise a (plainclothes) policeman; thus make someone for, to recognize someone as.

1906		A.H. Lewis Confessions of a Detective 206: When I hears these sneaks scrambling at the fence to get away, I thought some bull had made us; and with that I legs it, too.
1914		Ade ‘The New Fable of the Intermittent Fusser’ in Ade’s Fables 43: An Expert would have Made her at a glance, but the Cub fell for the Scenery and Mechanical Effects.
1929		A.J. Barr Let Tomorrow Come 40: He makes me doin’ it an’ I heave ’em at ’im an’ duck.
1938		R. Chandler ‘Red Wind’ in Red Wind (1946) 56: We make these two mugs.
1942		C. Himes ‘Strictly Business’ in Coll. Stories (1990) 146: They made him from the ‘wanted’ circular that had just come in and sent him back to be tried.
1955		‘Blackie’ Audett Rap Sheet 123: I needn’t have worried, because I never was made on neither of them jobs.
1958		E. Gilbert Vice Trap 25: I went by them slowly, checking the numbers. Then I made the house.
1966		J. Mills Panic in Needle Park (1971) 154: Department cars are too easy to make—to spot.
1975		E. Torres Carlito’s Way 110: Even if the feds made the car [...] he can get away.
1985		N. Pileggi Wiseguy (2001) 18: It got so that I could always make a plainclothesman.
1994		J. Wambaugh Finnegan’s Week 293: It’s too dark for them to make us.
2003		T. Dorsey Stingray Shuffle 202: ‘We’ve been made!’ said Serge [...] ‘To the hideout!’.
2006		D. Winslow Winter of Frankie Machine (2007) 88: The boy has done some other work that, thank Saint Anthony, the feds didn’t make him for.
2007		L. Redhead Cherry Pie [ebook] When Tony Torcasio had tutored us in PI school he’d always said if you got made, deny it, then get the fuck out of there.
2012		(con. 1943) G.S. Manson Irish Fandango [ebook] Simmo, Special Branch. He’d make Jack in a tick.
2017		D. Winslow The Force [ebook] The pit bull has made them.
2020		D. Winslow ‘Broken’ in Broken 32: ‘“A white cop at a titty bar in the Ninth? They’ll make you right away.’.

(c) (US Und.) to solve a case; to prove someone guilty in court.

1950		R. Starnes And When She Was Bad 119: I don’t care if I never make another case in this town, I’m going to put the arm on somebody for this one’.
1978		W. Hjortsberg Falling Angel 87: The Feds tried to make him on a stock-option swindle, but he was just the fall guy for a pair of Wall Street shysters.
1992		Bentley & Corbett Prison Sl. 18: Bank also Make To prove someone guilty of committing a crime.
1994		Mollen Report 92: His order [...] eliminated the opportunity to make a potentially large-scale corruption case in his borough.
2004		R. Cooley When Corruption Was King 268: He was a crime boss on the level of Marco D’Amico. They had been trying to make him for years.
2021		(con. 2016) in J. Fenton We Own This City 144: Tonight, May 4, 2016, my guys made our 50th handgun violation.

(d) to stop and search people on the street.

1960		C. Cooper Jr Scene (1996) 9: Detectives Davis and Patterson, the Rollers, they made me.
1972		G.V. Higgins Friends of Eddie Coyle 182: He could probably make half the hoods and forty per cent of the bikies in this district.
1987		T. Wolfe Bonfire of the Vanities 420: ‘They claim they’ve got a witness who can—make the people who were at the scene. You follow me?’ ‘Make?’ ‘Identify ’em.’.
1990		S. Morgan Homeboy 21: He couldn’t make a deathbed mug ID.